How to move forward sensibly

Jagraf

I started a thread yesterday stating that within the next couple of months my husband and I will have cleared our huge debts which have been hanging around is since I divorced my first husband 10 or so years ago.mmy question was about buying a house as we are renting. I have now stepped back from that and I want to organise my life properly before making any financial commitments.

We are in our forties, with a teenage daughter. We both have our own businesses, mine fairly new but my husbands is successful. All of our spare money has been going towards the debt, I feel I have had four mortgages. Somehow we managed to keep the wolf from the door, I believe our credit history is fine, and we are not having the financial arguments which took up all our time.

Until now it has felt that we have just been earning, then throwing money in a fire where it disappears. Only now can I start to think of us having some money to do something with.

My husband has a pension. Not a good one. I don't have a pension. We have one good car, and one dodgy one, both are paid for. We rent.

Basically we are starting from scratch. I'm wandering round a little bit scared, hugely humble, and with many lessons learned in our favour. We lead a modest life with good friends within a great community.

I didn't want to post on the debt free wannabe although that would have been useful before. But I do now need to sort my life out.

What should we do first?

grumbler

Nothing. If you really want to buy a house in the nearest future you have to start saving as much as possible. The higher deposit you pay, the cheaper mortgage you can get.

eskbanker

Only you know the numbers involved and of course there's no need to share details on here but presumably the surplus funds you're currently using to pay off debts will be usable in the future to build up savings? Based on what you know about these figures and the state of your local property market, how long do you think it'll take to get a deposit together?

If you're in prime earning years you really ought to be considering funding some sort of pension though....

Joe_Bloggs

@Jagraf
You said:-

I believe our credit history is fine

You can find out for real by reading the MSE credit report tip.

Once in credit you have the luxury of choosing whether to invest further in the business / to speculate in stocks and shares /get a pension Sipp deal or save in a bank account for a mortgage deposit.
It is your money.

J_B.